{"id":10273,"date":"2021-03-26T07:32:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T14:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/?p=10273"},"modified":"2021-07-11T14:31:20","modified_gmt":"2021-07-11T21:31:20","slug":"writing-personal-essays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/writing-personal-essays\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write a Personal Essay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We aren\u2019t born knowing how to write personal essays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how does one learn to write personal essays?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is inspired from \u201cA Few Tips for Writing Personal Essays,\u201d by Robert Lee Brewer, March\/April 2021 Writer\u2019s Digest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read personal essays!<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then write. You will discover your style as you write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~ Start with action.<\/strong> Save backstory for later in the essay. The beginning should have a compelling scene that hooks readers and makes them want to continue reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is an example of \u201cstart with action.\u201d The hook compelled me to read the entire essay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen he walked into a San Francisco barbershop after the war, he was told by the owner, \u2018We don\u2019t serve Japs here.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The owner of the barbershop obviously didn’t know who the one-armed Japanese-American was – his name was Daniel Inouye. And, according to one website that honors heroes, he was one tough \u2018badass.\u2019\u201d \u2014 The Jon S. Randal Peace Page<\/a>, (Facebook) September 5, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~ Build up to the reveal.<\/strong> Don\u2019t reveal the ending at the beginning or even the middle. Rather, hint at a reveal or big conclusion early on and string out details to the big payoff at the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~ Share a takeaway.<\/strong> Many people who love personal essays aren\u2019t in it just to read about people writing about themselves. Readers want a \u201ctakeway,\u201d like a life lesson, a memorable event, or a good laugh. Figure out how to make your story meaningful to another person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~ Let go of your fears<\/strong>. Don\u2019t hold back. If you\u2019re going to write a personal essay, write a personal essay. Dig deep into your story. You can only make a connection with readers if you are brave to tell all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read personal essays to learn how to write personal essays:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat Have We Here: Essays about Keeping House and Finding Home\u00a0<\/a>\u201d By Susan Bono<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Magazines (print and online) featuring personal essays:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boston Globe Ideas<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chicken Soup for the Soul<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern Love<\/a> (New York Times<\/em> column)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

River Teeth<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slate<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Home Forum<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Isolation Journals<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sun<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just Write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We aren\u2019t born knowing how to write personal essays. So, how does one learn to write personal essays? The following is inspired from \u201cA Few Tips for Writing Personal Essays,\u201d by Robert Lee Brewer, March\/April 2021 Writer\u2019s Digest. Read personal essays! Then write. You will discover your style as you write. ~ Start with action. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[126],"tags":[113,1372,106,1405],"class_list":["post-10273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-just-write-2","tag-personal-essay","tag-river-teeth","tag-susan-bono","tag-the-isolation-journals"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43Dj8-2FH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10273"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10665,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10273\/revisions\/10665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}